60-MILE-AN-HOUR OCEAN LINER

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 71, 25 March 1936, Page 16

60-MILE- AN-HOUR OCEAN LINER

A Fact Of The Near Future

poll THIRTY YEARS, Me Saia Tout,” Paris, has been publishing the daring conceptions of reputable scientists and technicians. Most of their theories have materialised. Among these contributors is the engineer Charles Waseige, who has just returned to France after a long residence in Japan as guest of the Mikado's government and director of Nipponese research-workers. Ho has had more than 30 years’ experience with the internal combustion engine and the airplane. He is the inventor of brakes which have been incorporated into the majority of vehicles being built throughout the world; he is the father of the 500, 7CO and 1400 horsepower Farman engine; of a speed reduced for airplane propellers; and of a compressor which will enable machines that are heavier than air to fly in the stratosphere. M. Waseige, in an interview says: A new technique in marine transportation will have to be evolved if the boat wishes to compete in speed and price with the transatlantic plane service Hitherto, ,in ship construction they have catered to the tourist traffic: to provide the maximum of comfort, entertainment and luxury. This was quite the logical thing to do ns crossings were relatively slow. But since the Le Havre-New York stretch can be done in four days, less attention will be devoted to swimming pools, games and saloons. Two quite distinct programmes w-ill in future, therefore, have to bo taken into consideration: tourist traffic and passenger transport.

travelling fast through a heavy sea are well-known; rather consider, therefore, navigation possibilities in the calmer zone a few yards below the surface. Instead of floating on top, the ship would profit by the speed at which it would cleave the waves and eliminate pitching and rolling. While the captain’s quarters and the air holes would be above water-level, the hull would be almost completely submerged for purposes of stability. The hull would be cigar-shaped, its axis situated a few yards below the water-level so as to be buffeted less by the top waves. As each wave tends to halt the ship’s progress, performance would thus be bettered. Rolling and pitching, too, would be lessened noticeably. The ship, however, would not be submerged deeply enough to be sheltered completely from the waves and so. a vertical shaft would be installed at the front. On the other hand, at the rear, the hull would be on a horizontal plane to support the bearings of the two propellers and at the same time to do duty as tail-fins to check the pitching motion. Perhaps, adjustable fins placed as low as possible on the side of the ship would have to be provided to control submersion according to weight and speed. The engines would be after the Diesel model. As is generally known, the marine Diesels turn slowly, setting the propeller in motion at a rate of 120 to 160 revolutions per minute at 3000 to 5000 horsepower; these slow heavy motors have sylinders more than a yard in diameter; and their performance is rendered difficult because the valves and pistons have to be cooled by water circulation. " Since the speed of the propeller is restricted to a low enough normal rate, it suffices to install a speed reducer between the engines and the propellers ; the materialisation of this has halted the technical change in engines to a fast rate. This problem of motive power being as little of an encumbrance as possible, is exteremely important in building the modern ship, for if interference is cut down, weight is also reduced and it is then possible to place the motors und the reducers at the back of the hull, leaving all the central and fore part of the ship free for passengers and equipment. The driving shafts of the propellers would also be shorter.

As to the former, no further improvements need be undertaken at the moment. But concerning fast transportation, it would be a quite difficult task to augment speed solely by increase in power or by simple modifications to the shape of the hull; considerable power would be required to gain a few more knots per hour and could be achieved only with difficulty under present ship construction methods. (The Normandie, to do 29 knots per hour, has to furnish 120,000 horsepower; to attain 31 knots, it would have to develop 166,C00 horsepower, that is, an increase of 46,000 horse-power for a relatively minimum additional gain of 2 knots or 4.632 metres an hour).

The present superstructure of ships ■which is perhaps more suitable for a Bailing boat than for one driven solely by propellers is useless. It resists head winds and halts forward movement. Indeed, the only masts remaining are employed by the wireless. Then, the difficulties to be faced in

The “pocket” liner's dimensions would vary according to its requirements: about 300 feet long by 36 to 42 feet wide, for passenger transportation between America and Europe. To maintain a speed of 60 miles an hour to assure a crossing in a little more than two days, only a few thousand horsepower generated by gas-oil motors at a fast normal rate and perhaps with the help of direct propellers, would be needed. Interference and. weight caused by the motive engines would thus be reduced to a minimum. It has been forgotten that during the Great War the submarine demonstrated that it could maintain mastery of the seas. People have also lost sight of the fact that throughout the last two years of hostilities, no European power employed its war fleet, thus rendering its usefulness questionable.

It is certain that in the next war, surface navigation would not be less dangerous, quite the contrary, for those which escaped the submarines would stand every chance of being sunk by the planes. But if the ships of tho future were practically invisible, would not these water-level craft be superior as military transports of men or goods to the merchant ships which are extremely vulnerable ?